The Nats FA Class of 2016: Enjoy the Next 2 Years

Watching the Nats game Thursday night I started to think about the Nats free agent class of 2016. Both Jordan Zimmermann, Ian Desmond hit free agency after two more seasons (Detwiler does also, but he is not in the same category). It will be the first time the Nats need to make the call about salary structure for the team. Do they resign their players for FA market rates or do they back fill with organizational talent at pre-arbitration rates. In a lot of ways the type of team, and the type of owner the Lerners are will be understood at that moment. The MASN arbitration in the hands of MLB will probably have the biggest say.

I have come to a realization that is actually quite liberating:

Stop worrying about the future and enjoy the now.

Both Zimm and Desi are under contract for the next two years. We have had a chance to watch them become one of the best players in baseball at their position. Both, might likely be starters in the All-Star game this year. There a going to be people over the next two years who will not waste any chance to bring up the prospect of locking these players up. On his trajectory, Zimmermann is putting himself in a rare category of a type of pitcher that rarely hits free agency, and when they do they usually get huge contracts from teams in NY and LA. For now, lets just watch marvel and enjoy; it is going to get annoying when every success of these two players over the next two years is tempered with contract talk.